Eros
Late July arrives and Dog-Star, Sirius, rises in the sky. Cicada nymphs sip sap through their straws, the last drink before they emerge from underground; undress, escape their skins, leaving the husks of their bodies behind like the memory of their shadow selves. They settle high in trees and announce themselves with sound, harp-like, cultic, a chorus performing hollow-bodied hymns, humming orphic valentines for their insect-muses, waiting for the answer of wings that signifies I will and Yes. They sing and mate in summer heat until they starve, drowning and dying in music, becoming song; becoming pleasure.
Lissy Irions lives in Eugene, Oregon where she works as a casting coordinator and research assistant for a company that produces educational videos. She received her BA in English and Psychology and is pursuing an MA in Library and Information Science. Lissy is inspired by art, mythology, and the esoteric.